


in another world

by theyellowumbrella



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: AU, Depression, High School AU, Self-harming probably, Suicide, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-04-15
Packaged: 2018-01-19 07:21:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1460710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theyellowumbrella/pseuds/theyellowumbrella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They sit there in a nice silence and then he walks her home, but she turns away at the door. He notices and then he takes her to the movies for a late night screening of <em>Forrest Gump</em>, and neither of them say anything, but he pays for the popcorn and the soda and it feels a lot like a date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in another world

**Author's Note:**

> I always felt that in a different setting, April would’ve been depressed and maybe a little suicidal and Andy would of helped her (also, I finished _The Perks of Being a Wallflower_ today and it got me in the mood to finish this draft off).

They don’t understand.

That’s what April tells herself as she clutches onto the railings that’s stopping her from tripping and falling head-first into the water. They’re pointless in her opinion, because she knows that she’s going to end up underwater anyway, and the railing is just adding to her time.

She drops her schoolbag to the floor and braces herself. The people around her are so happy and full of life, and that sucks for her because she’s the exact opposite. April lifts her leg over the top of the railing and she’s just about over when a boy just a little older than her comes running over.

“No!” he yells, stuffing his guitar into the case. “What are you doing? _April_?”

And of course he has to recognise her from third period math, because this couldn’t just go smoothly, could it? “Hey, Andy,” she says in a manner that she hopes sounds casual. “I was just...”

“Killing yourself?” He grabs onto her skinny wrist and he’s surprised at how bony she is. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

April doesn’t object because she knows that after they’ve talked and Andy’s done his good deed, she’ll return and he can confidently say that he did his best to help her and then he’ll be a hero, and April’s actually okay with that, because she knows that Andy’s a good kid and that he will do his best and that maybe if she hadn’t been so screwed over in the past, then yeah, maybe in a different world, she’d end up okay.

He gives her his coat, which is actually pretty nice of him considering it’s pounding down with rain. “Do you like coffee?” he asks when they’ve been walking around for ten minutes. “There’s this coffee shop just around the corner and I figured we could get a drink. We don’t have to talk about it.”

April decides that not talking about things is a pretty good offer, so she nods yes and they walk in silence. When they finally get to the coffee shop, he orders her a black coffee because he figures she likes it that way, and she drinks every last drop of it because for some reason, she wants to impress Andy.

* * *

 

“Are you okay?” he asks after a while, even though he knows how stupid of a question it is.

“Not really. But I’m okay with that.” He laughs at that and then she laughs too, and neither of them really know why they’re laughing, but it’s comforting in a really awful way, and she appreciates the fact that he’s trying.

“I’m sorry,” Andy says, and he shrugs for no real reason.

“You didn’t do anything except for stop me.”

“Well, yeah, but something must of made you want to do that, and I’m sorry.” Andy takes a drink out of his own coffee.

“It wasn’t you.”

They sit there in a nice silence and then he walks her home, but she turns away at the door. He notices and then he takes her to the movies for a late night screening of  _Forrest Gump_ , and neither of them say anything, but he pays for the popcorn and the soda and it feels a lot like a date.

* * *

 

April does end up going to school on Monday, incidentally. Andy picks her up straight from her house, which is weird, because they’re not even friends. But she lets him drive her about and she lets him get her a coffee on the way there and she lets him walk her to her first period.

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you in third period,” he says when they’re outside of her classroom. “Don’t hurt yourself, alright?”

And all she can do is nod yes and smile politely and then hurry off into the classroom so she can get a seat at the back and away from Andy as quick as possible. The class is AP English, which April finds easy enough that she can doodle in her notebook instead of listen to what the teacher’s saying about _To Kill a Mockingbird_ or _Naked Lunch_.

She does, in fact, see Andy in third period. He flops down in the seat next to her and passes her notes all throughout the class, and it would of been so much better if the reason he was doing this wasn’t that he’d witnessed her attempting suicide. At lunch, when he sees her sitting on her own, Andy casually slides into the seat next to her and tells his jock buddies that he’s sitting with a friend today and that he’ll catch them later. He lets her eat his cookie and she lets him have her apple juice box because apple’s his favourite and she still has her soda from last night in her purse, so she can drink that instead.

He makes small talk all throughout the hour they’re given to eat and hang out, and when his best friend Eddie comes over and tells him that he just _has_ to see the rack on the new waitress at Big Boy, he shakes his head no and says, “April and I are hanging out.” April appreciates it, really, she does, but it all feels familiar to her, and not a good kind of familiar. He’ll hang around with her for a while and then she’ll get better and he’ll leave her and then she’ll get bad again and the cycle will repeat itself until she finally doesn’t get better.

April’s in autopilot the whole day. She feels numb and it hurts whenever she lets out a breath, so she holds her breath for as long as she can and at some point, it becomes almost like a game. At around two, her sister calls her from her school and tells her that she needs to be picked up, and so April says something like, “I’ll get my friend Andy to pick you up,” and it feels wrong. Because Andy is not her friend.

He picks Natalie up nonetheless, and then he drives April home from school when it’s over, and they talk in the back of his car and he takes her to another movie and for another coffee, and she turns away at the door again and it’s almost become a habit. This time they go and see _Animal House_ , which he claims to be one of his favourite films but she’s pretty sure he’s just saying it to impress her.

They swap numbers, and she knows that he’ll send her a text whenever he’s coming to pick her up and she’ll ignore him, and he won’t mention it but he’ll think about it. It’s almost like she knows her whole future, and even if she doesn’t, she knows her future with him.

* * *

 

April wakes up on Saturday afternoon just before her three p.m. lunch to sixteen voicemails all from Andy. It doesn’t fill her up with happiness like it should. It annoys her, if she’s honest, because why can’t he just leave her alone like a normal person?

“ _Hey, April, it’s Andy... I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out today. Call me back_!”

“ _I was just calling to see if you’d thought any about my offer... call me back_.”

“ _April, can you call me back? I’m getting kinda worried. It’s Andy_.”

“ _April, it’s Andy. Are you okay? Call me back, please_.”

“ _April, this isn’t funny!_ ”

She stops listening after that and clears all of her messages, ignoring him. “Zuzu,” her mom says when she’s washed and dressed and downstairs. “There was a boy calling for you.”

“God, can’t he take a hint?” she whispers to herself, cursing quietly.

He calls throughout the day, and April never once answers him.

At school on Monday, he’s never been happier in his life to see April. He wraps her up in this huge hug and doesn’t let her go for a good five minutes, and for the first time in her life, she’s actually pretty happy to see him, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is always appreciated and I’ll try and update ASAP. I hope you have a great day/night/whatever :-)


End file.
